A Muzaffarpur police team hurriedly handed over sub-inspector Sanjay Kumar Gaur's body to his family and returned without a word of condolence, leaving residents of Murra Karmawar village in Siwan district shocked.

"We had not expected such behaviour from his colleagues," rued Gaur's neighbour and childhood friend Jitendra Kumar. Agitating residents of the village, around 30km west of the district headquarters town, demanded action. They were adamant on calling Siwan superintendent of police (SP) Saurabh Kumar Shah to the spot. Subsequently, Siwan additional superintendent of police Kartikey Sharma and sub-divisional officer Shyam Bihari Meena rushed to assure residents that the cops would be punished for laxity.

Sanjay Kumar Gaur, 34, posted at Panapur police outpost under the jurisdiction of Kanti police station in Muzaffarpur district, allegedly shot himself with his colleague's service revolver on the police station premises on Sunday.

A four-member police team led by assistant sub-inspector Sidhanath Ram was assigned to hand over Gaur's body to his family after post-mortem on Monday. The policemen from Muzaffarpur virtually dumped Gaur's body at his doorstep, took his brother's signature in the relevant papers and left. They didn't even stay for the funeral. "I was taken aback," Gaur's widow Kalyani Devi said. "Nobody from the team even uttered a word of consolation."

The Muzaffarpur police team did not even inform Darauli police station under whose jurisdiction Gaur's ancestral house falls. Even the Siwan superintendent of police was ignored. "This is not fair. It shouldn't happen," said Sridhar Mandal, a retired IPS officer.

Kalyani, a mother of three minors, cannot believe her husband is dead. Muzaffarpur police didn't disclose the cause of death. "I should have been properly briefed. I doubt he committed suicide," Kalyani said. "He was murdered under a well-planned conspiracy."

Muzaffarpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Vivek Kumar initiated disciplinary action against assistant sub-inspector Ram. "He has been put under suspension," Vivek said. Vivek had asked the visiting team to stay till the funeral. "Why they didn't stay is a matter of probe."

A CID (criminal investigation department) team has reached Panapur police outpost and inquired about the alleged suicide. The SSP had on Monday suspended sub-inspector Mohammad Harun, who had abandoned his service revol-ver in his police barrack (room). The gun was kept under a pillow. Harun told interrogators he had gone to answer the call of nature. "When I returned, Gaur was lying in a pool of blood."

A senior police officer said they found 15 cigarette butts in the room, suggesting Gaur may have been under duress.